Support for electric contact-shoes.



No. 886,319. PATENTED APR. 28;1'908.

E. w. PARNHAM.

SUPPORT FOR ELECTRIC CONTACT SHOES. APPLIoATIoN PILEDMJG. 2, 1905.

UNITED sTATgns PATENT FFIGE.

tO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG'NOR TO ALLEN Gr. MILLS, OF CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS.

SUPPORT FOR ELECTRIC CONTACT-SHOES.

No. s863319.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ED WILSON FAnNi-IAM, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Supports for ElectricContact-Shoes, of which the following is a speciication.

This invention relates to means for making electrical connection betweena car and an electric contact rail, and it has for its object theprovision of means for keeping the face of the contact shoe in closecontact with and substantially parallel with the contact face of therail. The shoe herein shown is adapted to make contact with anunder-running (that is to say, an inverted) contact rail, and the meansfor attaining the obj ect mentioned is arranged to keep the shoe in asubstantially horizontal position at all times, whereby a largecollecting surface is always presented to the rail` The invention alsorelates to the various features of improvement hereinafter pointed out.

In the accom anying drawings, Figure 1 is a view of an e ectric contactshoe, showin its operative relation to the contact rail, an illustratingthe means for supporting the shoe from one of the trucks of a railwaycar. Fig. 2 is an elevation of said shoe and its su porting means viewedfrom the side of tllie car-truck.

The supporting means for the contact shoe may be attached to thecar-truck in any suitable manner. I have herein shown only a portion ofthe attaching means, namely, a Wooden bar a. To this bar is firmlysecured a hanger 1 by means of bolts 2 passing through said bar andhanger. A pair of bearing ears 3 is provided at the lower end of saidhanger, and at a point above said bearing ears 3 is a similar pair ofbearing ears 4, said pairs of ears respectively supporting pivot rods orshafts 5 and 6. Upon these shafts are mounted arms 7 and 8 of equallength and having bifurcated outer ends, said outer ends bein pivotallyconnected with the opposite ends of a link 9 by means of bearing studs.10 on said link. It will thus be seen that the link 9, though free tomove vertically, will always remain parallel with a line joining theaxes of the shafts 5 and 6. An arm 11 is formed integral with the lowerend of the link 9 and extends horizontally out- Specication of LettersPatent.

Application filed August 2, 19U5.

Patented April 28, 1908.

Serial No. 272,370.

ward from the car-truck, its outer end being widened to form the contactshoe 12. The link 9 and shoe 12 are yieldingly supported upon two coiledsprin s 13 seated at their lower ends upon a shel' 14 formed upon thehanger 1, their upper ends engaging and bearing a `ainst nuts 15 turnedupon the ends of a U-bo t 16, the middle portion of which U-bolt liesbeneath and supports the arm 7 Said metal portion of the U-bolt en agesa notch 17 in the arm 7, and the legs of t ie bolt extend upward throughsuitable openings 18 in the shelf 14. The nuts 15 are adjustably lockedupon Athe upper ends of the U-bolt by means of cotter pins 19 passingthrough said bolt and engaging notches 2O formed in washers 21. Stoplugs 22 on the hub of the arm 7 are adapted to engage shoulders 23formed on the hanger 1 to limit the pivotal movement of said arm and,consequently, the vertical movement of the contact shoe 12 in eitherdirection.

The contact rail which may be of any ori dinary or preferredconstruction, is supported with its contact face in position to beengaged by the upper indicated in Fig. l.

YWires 24 are connected with the link 9 at 25 and extend to a suitablyapertured lug 26, whence the current is conveyed to the circuit upon thecar by means of the wire 27.

In use, the upper face of the contact shoe l2 will remain substantiallyparallel with the contact face of the rail even though the car-truckshould move vertically to some eX- tent. The link 9, being carried bytwo paral lel pivoted arms 7 and 8 of equal length, will always remainparallel with a line joining the axes of the pivots for said arms;hence, the contact shoe 12 carried by said link will always remainhorizontal, though free to yield vertically to accommodate itself tomovements of the car-truck or inequalities in the contact rail. Goodelectrical contact will therefore be maintained at all times between theshoe 12 and the rail It is clear that the contact shoe and itssupporting hanger may be attached to the cartruck in other ways thanthat herein shown; that various kinds of yielding sup orts for the shoemay be substituted for t at illustrated in the drawings; and that theembodiment herein shown may be modified in various ways withoutdeparting from lthe spirit and scope of the invention. I thereside ofthe contact shoe 12, as

fore desire to have it understood that I do not Wish to limit myself tothe precise details herein set forth.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a support for electric contact shoes; in combination, a hangeradapted to be secured to the car and comprising a shelf; two parallelarms of equal length pivoted at one of their ends to said hanger; a linkconnecting the op osite ends oi said arms; a substantially orizontalshoe-supporting arm connected with said link; a U-loolt, the middleportion oi' which extends under and supports one of said parallelpivoted arms; and two springs seated upon said shelf and eachsurrounding one arm of said bolt and bearing against one end of itsbolt-arnr 2. In a support for electric contact shoes, in combination, ahanger adapted to he secured to the car; and means carried loy saidhanger for yieldingly holding a contact shoe upward into contact with aninverted third rail, said means comprising two parallel arms of equallength pivoted at one of their ends to said hanger and extending in aplane at right angles with the third rail; a link conneeting theopposite ends oi' said arms; a substantially horizontal shoe-supportingarm connected with said link; and means for yieldingly pressing saidshoe-supporting arm upward.

3. In a support for electric contact shoes, in combination, a hangerprovided at its u per end with attachingmeans; bearings intl e lowerportion. of said hanger; two arms of equal length having means at oneend for pivotally supporting them in said bearings; a link connectingthe op )osite ends of said arms, said link being substantiallyT thesaine length as the distance between said hearings; a shell on saidhanger; a coiled spring seated on said shelf and`eonnected with one ofsaid arms and tending to swing said arn'is upwardly; and ashoe-supporting arm connected with said link.

ED WILSON FARNHAM.

Witnesses:

H. B. SCHNEIDER, C. W. FARNHAM, Jr.

